Nissan-Renault alliance on rocky ground

Nissan’s Japanese arm is having concerns with the French government over its involvement in the running of Renault. The Japanese arm’s union has criticised the French government’s attempts to control its alliance partner.

For the first time in 16 years, Nissan's union has taken up the company's stand and stated that France's attempt at scoring double voting rights within Renault was unacceptable and against the intended spirit of the alliance.

"We support the numerous attempts of Nissan to engage with the French government to find a balanced and constructive solution that will benefit and strengthen the Alliance," the union said in a statement. It remains to be seen if the union’s recent involvement to solve the current power struggle between Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn and the French government will change anything.

Renault-Nissan India operations have their manufacturing plant in Oragadam near Chennai and the plant has a capacity of four lakh vehicles per annum. They currently share product technology for their portfolio that includes the Sunny, Scala, Terrano, Duster, Micra and the Pulse. Although it’s unclear if a solution can be swiftly reached at, we’ll keep an eye on how this shapes up to see if the situation affects the Renault-Nissan alliance in India.